A New Season's Blessings

When my Grandpa Carl passed away my sweet in-law's all went together a bought me a gift card to a local greenhouse/nursery. I cried when I opened the card. My grandpa loved to play in the dirt and grow things and take care of the land. I knew immediately that I would use the money to plant something and remember him every time I looked at it.

We purchased grass seed and peet moss for this eye sore in our front yard. (There used to be a tree there and crazy juniper bushes.)

 

We planted the seed last weekend and have diligently been watering and tending to it. I knew it would "take" because grandpa was behind it all. Thursday morning I was on my way downstairs to water and I was talking to him saying, "Please help our little grass seeds grow into strong beautiful turf so we're not the ugly yard on the block." When I got out there I saw tiny little green spikes ALL OVER the place.

That evening I spent some time in our backyard enjoying all the beauty that spring brings us. Cool-weather flowers like hyacinth and tulips. Bright, vibrant blooms on forsythia. Flowering trees and budding butterfly bushes. Mother nature never ceases to amaze me.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Thank you grandpa for watching over us (and our dirt plot now filled with baby grass).

 
And thank you to Porter, who watches over me while I'm exploring our backyard a.k.a. "his forest."

Spring time blessings to you!
Karli

Perennials Taking Hold

When we tore out all the old bushes and sidewalk in the front of our house, we knew we'd be left with lots of options for how to fill the space. I don't consider myself a green thumb, but after this year's garden and flower beds, I think I may be changing my mind.
 
I posted early in the spring about the flowers I was contemplating for the front beds. With a few minor tweaks and some fun new finds at the local garden store, I think it's shaping up quite nicely!

 


So you can see the layout of the beds.

Here are the only three annuals I planted for some immediate color and spread. I was afraid my perennials wouldn't be very showy this year...

Petunias...planted a mixed flat this year. Next year I'm going to go with
all dark purple or maybe orange. No light purple, white, pink or red.

 

Hot pink geraniums in boxed planters by the front door. I really like
geraniums in planters. But like I said above, next year no pink.

 

This was a really fun find at the local nursery. The common name is something like
"bat face" since the the Cuphea flower almost look like ears and a little nose.

 
And here are a few of the beautiful things happening right now with my perennials. I can't wait to see what next year has in store since this was just the first year of growth!

Foxgloves. I LOVE these!

 

Delphinium in a beautiful royal blue/purple. Brent picked this and planted it too!


 

We can't live in Colorado and not have the state flower. I also planted a
"lime green" columbine but it doesn't have flowers yet.

 

Another favorite for spread and showy flowers: Coreopsis.
We planted two of these since they look great and eat up space.

 

Salvia. Another Colorado staple. This is one of two we planted. The
first one almost died, but I'm nursing it back to health.

 

Coneflower: I was worried about these babies. They didn't look
great for much of their initial month. Now they're flowering!

 


Hens and chicks. I planted lots of these (along with ice plant) along the borders.

 

This is my very first Brown-Eyed Susan to flower. I notice them all over
Denver right now, so I imagine next year's plants will be much fuller.

Next year my poppies will likely bloom too, but they just weren't developed enough this summer.

I hope you're enjoying some color and flowers this summer!
Karli

Spring Flowers in Bloom

Spring around here is a busy time. In fact there is so much "stuff" to do that there is no time to write about it. And, it is not necessarily something anyone would want to read about or see pictures of anyway!

Regardless, it is past time to "show and tell" something, so here are some photos of spring progress in the yard.

We did a little repair work on the garden shed. If you recall, from an earlier post, we damaged the roof when we took part of the tree down.

We fixed the damage and replaced some shingles.

The Day Lilies are on the east side of the house and love the early morning sun. They seem to grow every day. I shared some with Karli early this spring.

Growing...

Growing...

Blooming yellow (Lemon Lily)

Blooming orange lily

                             
Our flowering crabapple tree is so beautiful in the Spring. But it only blooms for a short time. Enjoy the pink while you can, I guess. 

Close-up of the pink flowers. Too bad the pink goes away so quickly.

As for annuals, I like to keep the colors all unified. This year I only purchased orange marigolds. I planted some in the beds among the rocks and sedum. Here are some views of the yard so far......

Sedum, orange marigolds, mountain sage.

I also plant some of the same orange marigolds in various pots.

This should fill out soon.

On the back deck I included some pots of basil and parsley. Karli has been trying to get me to cook with "real fresh" herbs!

I love summertime and spending time in the yard. I love my flowers! They will grow more beautiful each day. But, by the end of August, I'll be over it and wishing my watering and mowing was done! Go figure!!

Happy yardwork,
Kandy

A Sneak Preview: Exterior Project (Almost) Complete

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Where did the time go? What have I been up to? (Eating bonbons and sun-bathing?--I WISH!) Let me tell you a story.

In my last post, I told you about our trim being rotted and needing replacement before paint could begin. I also told you that the work was going to begin the next day. Well, that "little" project turned into a not-so-little nightmare. The contractor we used was very late starting the work, very slow to get the "two day" project done and made a few mistakes along the way that delayed the project even more. It was all I could do not to rant on Facebook and complain on the blog, but my sweet husband kept me from it. (I still have to practice deep breathing when I think about it--and to be honest I did write a Facebook post about my frustrations and when I tried to post, my phone kept giving me an error message. I considered it a sign from God that I should remain positive.)

I don't want to bore you with all the nonsense, so I'll get to the happy stuff. Brent's sister and her husband paint houses on the side of their already full time jobs and lives. They painted our old house and I realized then that their attention to detail is just as strong as mine. Perfect. Needless to say, they did an amazing job on this house too. I almost cried when I pulled up the final evening and it was done.

A year's planning and saving resulted in something I'm proud to call my own!

Here's a sneak preview of a full blown post to come...



I don't think I'd even posted about this! We add a new sidewalk into the mix too. So happy with the results!

 

The first bit of paint going on the house! I was giddy like a little kid!

 

Lime Green front door?! I think YES!

 

Shutters going up (and that last bit of reddish brown trim)!

 

Here's just a little bit of the finished product. More coming in a couple days!

What do you think so far? Better than where we started? :)

Happy Summer,
Karli

A Spring Antique Sale

As some of you may recall, in my former life, I was an Antique Dealer. When the store closed I took my inventory home. I have had one big sale here at home, but, for the most part, I have just been sitting on all that stuff.

I keep my "stuff" in my barn, where I have a showroom set up.

I did a show last weekend, a money-maker for a ladies organization raising funds to offer scholarships. I paid for an 8' space, set up my booth area, sold my antiques and vintage items, and then I donated 10% of my proceeds to the ladies club. It was for a good cause and a fun outing since I haven't been playing with "my antique stuff" for quite a while.

A good friend of mine, who is also an antique dealer, joined me in the venture. She brought her items to add to mine. Then another friend, also a dealer, gave us some of her items to sell as well. It was a joint effort!

We started setting up by creating walls with two sets of shutters.

Love using these to divide areas as well as hanging on.

  
The "girly" side of our booth was the perfect spot for hats and frilly feminine items just right for Mother's Day giftgiving.

Love the black and white

 This is a close-up of an old cabinet door. I painted the center with Chalkboard paint and added vintage hooks.

                        

 A broader view of the "girly" black and white side. You may recognize the chair from an earlier post.

           
The old metal display unit is perfect for hankies and gloves. I used this at the store for several years and people always wanted to buy it.

This metal rack was originally used for candy in General Stores.
You can see more white ironstone on this earlier post.

A closer look at one shelf. We even sold some of the burlap flower magnets. See our post on how to make these.

               
This part of our booth was dedicated to vintage gardening.

A potty chair from the 1950's holds a potted rose plant.

             
Layering on top of the enamel top table with an old wood box allows for more garden items.

Love the pink and green for Spring!

                              

The garden items even filled the floor.

                
It is still early for "real" plants in our area, however the silk ones made everyone think of Spring.

The little potted flowers were just too sweet!

                    

 The little watercan holds my business cards.

              

Would you believe we did not plan to wear similar jackets!

             
The sale was not quite the sucessful day of selling that we were anticipating, but we did have fun planning, hauling, setting up, visiting with customers, tearing down, boxing our stuff back up, and then hauling it all back home. (Really!!!)

That is the way it goes sometimes!     CARRY ON!!!

Happy Spring,
Kandy